The NYT Adds Blogrunner; Mainstream Media Fail to Mention it

If you want to see evidence of why blogs continue to grow as a source for news, while mainstream media (MSM) sites appear stagnant, you need look no further than the latest announcement by the New York Times.

The NYT has announced the integration of Blogrunner–a news aggregator similar to Techmeme–a service it acquired in 2005. Take a look at the Technology section and you’ll see the "Technology Headlines From Around the Web".

That the NYT is adding news from other resources–including blogs–is not a big surprise. The newspaper is one of the few mainstream media sites that appear to "get" social media and are aggressively pursuing models that embrace citizen journalism.

Equally not surprising is the way other MSM sites have handled this announcement–they’ve not said a word. Looking at Google News, you’ll see that only blogs appear to be talking about the announcement. Isn’t that just indicative of all that is wrong with old-school media? Heaven forbid they link to an announcement by one of their rivals! Contrast that with bloggers. Marketing Pilgrim constantly links to sites that you might consider to be our competitors–TechCrunch, Mashable, SEL, etc–because we know that by doing so, we add value to your reading experience (plus, they’re great sites).

NYT is going to be a lone beacon for a while. Until other mainstream news sites realize that you have more to gain than lose–by linking to your rivals–they will continue to look like social media noobs!

http://www.wpromote.com/blog Mike Mothner

It’s amazing to me how the credibility and popularity of blogs is rapidly increasing. With news aggregators now turning to blogs as a useful resource, this will only continue to grow in momentum. Let’s just hope that the quality of blogs remain as high as it currently is.

http://www.minicix.com minicix

techmeme leaderboard was criticized so much now this one is coming. I wonder if the aim is to replace slowly declining technorati.

http://www.amishtables.com Dining Tables

Newspapers have been notoriously slow to change. Change has always been thrust on them.